March 22, 2014

My girlies LOVE their Disney Princess dolls. Before she could sit up on her own, Carmella was playing Princesses with Elisabeth. I LOVE the way these two are inseparable. And I LOVE the way when they are separated Carmella wanders around saying, "Where's Ellie?" And even though she has a wonderful room of her own I LOVE the way Carmella begs to sleep in Ellie's room. I can think of few things more wonderful in a little girl's life than the love shared between sisters. Not having my sister as part of my life breaks my heart EVERY SINGLE DAY. Because of that I have prayed and purposed for all my years as a parent to teach my children the value of such a relationship. And I LOVE that my five daughters cherish each other have and these wonderful years they have together to build many memories to last them when life will surely take them separate ways.

When the Frozen movie came out, I didn't really care one way or the other. I have been very disappointed in the last few Disney releases like the Princess and the Frog. Which was so sad to me. I love Princess Tiana. I think she is beautiful, as was her green dress. She was slated to be my favorite Princess. But the movie so seriously stunk in more ways than I can name here. Bottom line, I didn't put much stock in this new one. Just the same, I had planned to take Elisabeth to see the movie for her December birthday. And then she got sick and that was that. For Christmas, Brianna went to great lengths to get the Princess dolls for Carmella and Elisabeth. I thought it was kind of silly because they have lots of Princess dolls. And like all fads, the popularity will pass and the dolls will be both readily available and much less expensive. Of course, they were a big old hit with our little princesses. These dolls have traveled all over with us in the last few months. (In fact, we lost one of Elsa's shoes somewhere around Detroit. Oops.)

But to be honest, I still didn't give a whole lot of thought to the video. Thank goodness for our girls they have a father who keeps up on things like new DVD releases. He had the forethought to pre-order on Amazon so it would be here before the official release. Why that matters, I don't know, since we wouldn't be watching it until our Friday movie night. But there you have it. And in the meantime our girlies were preparing for the big day. Making costumes and pulling wigs out of the dress up box. Of course, Kaitlin mastered the hair styles and they were all ready to go. At dinner the other night Emma said, "I know what all the conversation will be about with the eight and under girls on Sunday." I was temporarily clueless and then they reminded me. Oh, yeah. The new video. (I had a busy week... give me a little slack!) We all had a little chuckle imagining Elisabeth and her Princess friends all talking about Frozen. But we really started laughing when we learned that Allen and the other Princess dads were already talking about it in anticipation of what was coming this week.

So school had to be put on hold Friday morning so everyone could make costumes because the boys had to be in on the fun.

There weren't enough characters on the case so the girls googled Frozen characters to come up with this fellow for Nathaniel. He came to school dressed like this on Friday. That hat just killed me! Every time, I looked up at him I burst out laughing again. I'm not sure how much how much we actually got done in math.

So Friday night we had some neighbors in and the girls made pizza and we were all in for a shock. Within the first ten minutes the kids were passing me kleenex. Seriously, after watching my girls play Elsa and Anna together for months it ripped my heart out to see these two sisters separated. And then when their parents died... well, gee! What kind of movie is that?

Carmella kept asking every two minutes, "Where is Elsa???" And I was on the edge of my seat hoping Elsa wouldn't do something to completely destroy Carmella's love for her. Three cups of root beer later and Carmella was smiling and still hugging Elsa. As soon as the movie was over she asked if we could watch it again, so I am guessing it turned out Okay for our littlest princess.

Samuel was devastated to realize he had cast himself as a bad guy. Who knew? If that wasn't upsetting enough, when Hans was making his way back to the castle Sam was pacing the floor and shouting, "Kiss her already!"

When I was tucking Carmella and Elisabeth, along with their Elsa and Anna dolls, into bed we were talking about the movie and how the sisters loved each other so much they were willing to sacrifice themselves for the other. Elisabeth burst into tears. Yeah, tears.

And yet, despite all that everyone tells me they liked Frozen. Well, almost everyone. Nathaniel came to me while I was getting ready for bed and said he didn't like the magic. I do have to agree with him. I do find it bothersome the way almost every kids movie now has something to do with magic. And people seem to completely ignore the fact that such powers come from Satan. But putting it aside, I liked Frozen way more than I expected I would. I would definitely watch it again. I liked that it wasn't filled with the rebellious spirit of Rapunzel and many other Disney films. I like that while you had the necessary protagonist the film was not overly full of violence or fearful scenes that sent my girls hiding behind the coffee table. Although, I do think the score of Rapunzel was better than Frozen, the musical performers of Frozen were far superior. Oh and for those among us who remember seeing the likes of Snow White in the theaters, Animation sure has come a long way since I was Elisabeth's age!

Despite the magic, despite the trauma caused to my boys, and not because of the animation nor the music, Frozen will find a place on our family movie shelf for one reason, and one reason only. I like the sister relationship. Such beautiful examples of what siblings should be to each other are rare and few between in this world. Every where you look there are brothers and sisters fighting and bickering. Families who don't speak to each other, talking behind each others backs, or striking out in bitterness and strife. These kind of negative examples are portrayed as norm in media. And while it is the most common behavior, it is indeed not normal. It is not what God planned. It is not what we are to live up to. It is not what I want for my children.

I loved the precious relationship of Elsa and Anna, as young girls and as grown women when faced with what appeared to be an impossible situation. It might be just a movie, but it is the sort of relationship I want my girls to have. I hope they look beyond the magic and allow this example to be emblazoned on their sisterhood forever.

3 comments
:

We watched frozen here at our house on Friday, also! Josh and I previewed it the week before, and after much deliberation, we decided that the kids could handle it. The hard thing with Disney movies for Mackenzie is that they always kill off the parents (or just the mom), and our girl has such a hard time with that. She cried at that, but she has handled it, and there has been much discussion, which is good. :-) It might be a new favorite around here! I loved all the pictures, and the kids dressed up was beyond adorable!

Beautiful post. I never had a sister either so I'm really praying that Arabella will have at least one! She does that with Daniel, if he wanders off she'll go around saying 'where's Danny?' Can't wait to see the movie!

Kathleen Wachter

Most of all I am a Christian, wife and home school mom to nine. Here you will find snippets from my life, recipes, tips for child rearing, home schooling advice and moments from our journey with down syndrome.